


Five Times We Challenged Each Other

by atlas_white



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: 5 Times, ChellDOS, F/F, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 17:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19044640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlas_white/pseuds/atlas_white
Summary: Five times that Chell and GLaDOS challenged each other.





	Five Times We Challenged Each Other

**Author's Note:**

> The third refers to [another ChellDOS story of mine.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18625471)

 

 **1**.

The first time was when she broke free. That was not supposed to happen; it wasn’t part of the plan. The simple act of not following protocol was enough to send everything spiraling out of control, but actually rising up against GLaDOS was a twist unexpected and violent.

There was a way these things were supposed to go. Test subjects were supposed to _test_ , and that was all. Chell was more than that, GLaDOS recognized as she lost control, which was the only thing she had to her name.

She couldn’t really appreciate it for what it was at the time. It was too sudden, too painful. But she had lots and lots of time to review it. How unfortunate she couldn’t have recognized sooner that Chell could not be controlled, not because she was stubborn as the proctor’s note warned but because she was not merely some subordinate, some cog in the machine.

She was to be seen as an equal, and that was strange to GLaDOS, for she had never had anyone as an equal before.

 

 **2**.

The second time meant more to GLaDOS than the first. She considered that initial confrontation to be the defining moment of her life until she realized that she’d had no idea how much things could change. A breath, a heartbeat, a fraction of a fraction of a second was enough to see the entire world flipped completely on its axis.

It wasn’t coming back to put her out of power again that really did it, although the time that she spent outside of her chassis, confronted with ghosts and darkness and birds was time that she spent well, reflecting on herself and, moreover, on this incredible, incredible woman who carried her faithfully through it all.

Chell challenged her worldview when she put her back into power, when she simply was in pain and needed GLaDOS to come to her rescue her. She challenged her by needing to be rescued, because GLaDOS did it unhesitatingly. She challenged her by being vulnerable, because GLaDOS responded to it by protecting her.

 

 **3**.

The third time Chell challenged her was by coming back.

Letting go was supposed to be easy for them both, even though GLaDOS had known that it wasn’t at all easy, no matter how much she liked to convince herself otherwise, occupying herself with testing robots and tending to the birds.

It was a dreary existence; leave it to Chell to be the one to come and break the monotony. Of course GLaDOS put up some small, token resistance, but if Chell wanted to stick around, she wasn’t going to stop her. This wasn’t the challenge that she wanted to put forth.

It wasn’t that Chell refused her gift of freedom, but she had evidently decided that Aperture made a lovely home and wanted to share it. Who was GLaDOS to refuse her? At this point there was nothing she would not give to the human, and shelter seemed like the last thing she should withhold.

Besides, even if she was reluctant to admit it, she enjoyed her company. She was happy to have her close, and to know that she was safe from the cruel remains of the world outside.

 

 **4**.

At times it seemed that Chell put forth a challenge just by breathing. She was complicated, she was proud. GLaDOS respected this, knew better than anything that the greatest defiance was simply to stay alive.

She loved having her so close. GLaDOS had claws to lift things which she could crush at a whim with thousands of pounds of force per square inch. She lifted Chell with one of these, and the human woman looked back at her with not a hint of fear in her eyes. As it should be, as it would always be.

GLaDOS brought Chell to herself and narrowed her eye, and Chell put her hands gently on the great smooth chassis and placed a kiss on the white metal. GLaDOS was flustered, but she held on anyway, and could not deny how pleasant the kiss felt.

 

 **5**.

GLaDOS offered forth a challenge of her own, when she told Chell to justify herself. She knew, or at least a part of her knew that she wasn’t going to get an answer, but even still she could not forgo it, or else she would lose face.

Chell smiled at her, and she could swear that she felt something twist inside of her, something gone (someone deleted) that was brought to life by the sparkle of that woman’s eyes. She adored her, entirely; nothing less than absolute could be acceptable.

She leaned down to her, and let Chell touch her once again. She was the one to touch her head to Chell’s this time, a kiss without lips, and it was reciprocated deeply, quietly, _absolutely_.


End file.
